Draymond Green bashes Bucks for doubting his defense with game on the line

The Warriors' star can't believe teams would run potential game-winning plays against him

Hoping to play spoiler, the Milwaukee Bucks nearly defeated the Golden State Warriors on Saturday. But with the tightly contested game coming to a close, Draymond Green and his activity on the defensive end made sure the Warriors extended their league-leading win streak to seven.

With 10 seconds to play and the Warriors (11-2) holding on to a two-point lead, the Bucks (5-7) tried to inbound the ball to Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was defended by Green. Milwaukee's star player was playing well, so with it being crunch time, Bucks coach Jason Kidd went to the Greek Freak with the chance to tie the game up. However with Green guarding Antetokounmpo, it wasn't the safest play to run. Green knocked away the inbound pass from Antetokounmpo's outstretched hands. Klay Thompson stole the ball and sealed Golden State's 124-121 victory from the free-throw line.

After the game, Green was clearly upset that the Bucks apparently weren't aware of his defensive excellence. Green felt disrespected that they would even think that Antetokounmpo could score on him with the game on the line.

From ESPN's Chris Haynes:

"I think that's disrespectful to me. I take that as disrespect. Don't go at me for game. And of course I'll say that, and next game [they'll] get game or something, but whatever."

...

"I already knew what play they were running," Green said. "They have two plays that they run in situations like that. Once Giannis was down on the block, I already knew what they were running, so I was just waiting on them to pass the ball in. I wanted to make it tough and make Tony Snell think about it. I knew once he thought about it that he would throw the lob pass. Then I just went after the ball."

Green's bravado isn't that surprising. After all, he is one of the most loquacious players in the league.

But Green is campaigning for Defensive Player of the Year, so the more he talks up his defense, the better his case will be when it comes to winning the award. And if Green keeps making clutch defensive plays, his chances of winning the award will only keep getting stronger.